Rwanda-DRC: Peace agreed, people forgotten

Friday 25 July 2025, by Paul Martial

The peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda under the aegis of the United States is generally unfavourable to the Congolese side and remains fragile.

After years of letting China exploit Africa’s subsoil, the United States is changing its policy. Especially since the tug-of-war over tariffs between the two countries, China threatened an embargo on exports of rare minerals essential for American industry.
A lose-win deal

The United States’ mediation for a peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda is part of this framework. Congolese President Tshisekedi, unable to respond to attacks by the M23 massively supported by the Rwandan army, had proposed to Trump the security of the country against the exploitation of its many mineral riches. The latter seized the opportunity and proposed a peace agreement between the two countries putting an end to a conflict that had lasted more than thirty years.

While the agreement signed on 27 June reaffirms the principle of the DRC’s sovereignty, the departure of the Rwandan army from Congolese soil is conditional on the dismantling of the FDLR, an armed group descended from the Hutu genocidaires who took refuge in the DRC as part of the French military operation “Turquoise” carried out in Rwanda in 1994.

This requirement will be difficult for the DRC armed forces, which in the past have forged links with this militia. In addition, much of the FDLR’s presence is in territories occupied by the M23. Finally, a possible strategy of the FDLR would be to integrate its men into the many armed militias that exist in the country.

The economic part specifies that US companies will be able to exploit the subsoil of the DRC and that the minerals will be processed by Rwanda and exported to the US using the Lobito corridor, a rail and road infrastructure that leads to the Atlantic Ocean, competing with Chinese exports.

Waiting for Doha

In this agreement, most of the added value in the region would benefit Rwanda, the DRC would be confined to a reservoir of natural resources. This would not really change the current situation, except that the illicit transfers of Congolese minerals to Rwanda would be made official.

Many observers point to the lack of compensation for the victims of the war unleashed by Rwanda, for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people, the violence suffered, the looting of houses or the destruction of villages. An agreement that also enshrines impunity for warlords.

On the ground, conflicts continue because the cessation of conflicts is conditional on another agreement, the Doha agreement between the DRC authorities and the M23 rebel militia. The latter has its own requirements in terms of integrating its forces into the national army and securing its economic activities and land ownership. The question is also whether US companies will invest in an environment that remains unstable and insecure.

18 July 2025

Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.


Attached documentsrwanda-drc-peace-agreed-people-forgottenpeace-agreed-people_a9099.pdf (PDF - 905.2 KiB)
Extraction PDF [->article9099]

Democratic Republic of Congo
Peace under the seal of business
The state of Africa in the new world order
Democratic Republic of Congo: a conflict with multiple implications
DRC: The need for a ceasefire
The looters’ ball in Africa
Rwanda
Africa: oil means blood for blood profits with the EU
Central African Republic: looting as retribution
Rwanda as the European Union’s deputy in Africa
France was the “main accelerator of the genocidal process” in Rwanda
France in Rwanda: responsible but not guilty?

Paul Martial is a correspondent for International Viewpoint. He is editor of Afriques en Lutte and a member of the Fourth International in France.


International Viewpoint is published under the responsibility of the Bureau of the Fourth International. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect editorial policy. Articles can be reprinted with acknowledgement, and a live link if possible.